Friend recalls missing teenager

Golf course search

Amanda Martin speaks fondly when she talks about her friend, Kayla Marie Wills.

ADVERTISEMENT

Print-ready version

Send to a friend

Subscribe to the Banner-Herald

E-mail the Editor

Discuss in Forums

"In any picture we could find of her, she was smiling," Martin said. "She was the type of person that made you feel good about yourself."

Wills was 19 years old when she disappeared from her Winterville residence in July 2002. At first, investigators thought she left Oglethorpe County on her own accord.

But this year, authorities reopened their investigation into Wills' disappearance.

And this week, authorities from Oglethorpe County and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation turned their attention to the 13th hole of a Braselton golf course.

"She always had a warmth about her that was hard to find in other people, and her laugh was bright as the stars," Martin said. "When you were around Kayla you couldn't help but smile. She was a very loving and caring person."

The two met when Martin was in middle school. Martin, a junior at Madison County High School, remains close friends with Wills' family.

"She has missed family gatherings, holidays, her sister getting married, her niece growing up, her friends and what is going on in her hometown," Martin said. "Not only did she miss out on her family, but she has missed out on her own life."

Wills was living with her boyfriend - Robert Eugene Hill, now 47 years old and of Pendergrass - when she disappeared, authorities said. Hill has been charged with one count of concealing a death and one count of abandonment of a body in the case.

Hill remains in jail without bond. Additional charges could be levied against Hill, though none have been filed as of Friday.

"That's something we're going to have to decide once the body is found and it's sent to the crime lab," Oglethorpe County Sheriff Mike Smith said Friday.

From the little - and at times conflicting - information released by authorities, it appears Hill, who learned of the renewed investigation into Wills' disappearance, has been somewhat helpful to investigators.

Hill, who worked with heavy equipment at the Traditions of Braselton golf course as it was under construction, talked with the GBI on Monday at the agency's Athens office.

Hill told authorities he did not kill her but woke up one morning and found her dead, Oglethorpe County Coroner James Mathews said this week. At least twice this week, Hill showed authorities where he buried Wills' body, Mathews said.

Investigators will continue their search "until we're satisfied," Smith said. "We're pretty confident that (Wills' body is) going to be in that spot where they're digging."

In their search, investigators used ground-penetrating radar from the University of Georgia to map the area before they started excavating.

The GBI's forensic anthropologist also helped search the area, which is closed off to the public and remains under 24-hour surveillance.